JOURNEY
Frontiers Records is proud to announce the release of the highly anticipated 13th JOURNEY studio album titled GENERATIONS.
GENERATIONS was recorded during February and March 2005 at the Record Plant in Sausalito, CA where the band recorded 1986’s multi-platinum RAISED ON RADIO. Their first new recording since 2002’s RED 13 four-song EP and 2001’s full-length ARRIVAL album, it’s truly what loyal Journey fans have been waiting for. “There’s a real sense of harmony and melody on this album filled with heartfelt lyrics”, proclaims keyboardist Jonathan Cain. “It has the ballads that people would expect from us and the rock & roll that I think has the Journey signature sound to it. There’s something for everybody. There’s a mix of fun, playful songs along with some solid rock tracks. I am sure it will please everyone!”.
“The new record is a real retro record for Journey”, guitarist Neal Schon continues. “It’s a rock record with some great ballads. What I like about it is that it’s very guitar-driven and there’s more rock and soul on this record and less pop. So I’m happy about that because I prefer rock and soul”.
The band turned to an old friend, Kevin Elson, to produce GENERATIONS. He’s the man responsible for the band’s multi-platinum ESCAPE, DEPARTURE and FRONTIERS albums, as well as their double-platinum CAPTURED live album. It was Schon’s idea to enlist Michael Fraser (Metallica, AC/DC, Aerosmith) to team up with Elson to engineer the sessions.
For Cain and the rest of the band, working with Elson and Fraser proved to be just the ticket with Journey: “This album happened fairly effortlessly in the sense that we recorded all the basic tracks in a week”, he says. “We made the album with Kevin kind of the same way we made ESCAPE. We rehearsed diligently and recorded everything live, so the whole band got everything done really quickly. We went into the studio and just played together as a band with very little overdubs. And it was a laid-back atmosphere. Nobody was on anybody’s case while we were making this album. Nobody got the primadonna award”.
“We mixed the album in Vancouver with Mike Fraser”, he continues, “who worked with Neal, Deen and I when we did the Bad English album and he’s done a lot of Aerosmith records. So it has the Vancouver stamp. We say the album has been ‘Frased’”.
The album title, GENERATIONS, represents the constancy of Journey’s followers - old and new - throughout the past 30 years. “There’s a whole new generation that has become fans of ours”, says bass player Ross Valory. “For the last seven years in particular, I’ve been noticing that there are younger fans at the shows. Being that Journey has been popular for so long, there are at least three if not four generations of Journey concert-goers and listeners. We find people older than us and kids in the front row. So many of the lyrics on the album address the lives of these people”.
With new song titles like "Faith In The Heartland", "Place In Your Heart" and “A Better Life”, “the band has come full circle” according to Jonathan. “We’ve been going in different directions in the past. I think it embraces the elements of FRONTIERS again, our rock roots, with a bit of a soul sound to it. The harmonies that we’ve created are strong and have a melodic sense and yet it has a playfulness about it. It’s fun and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are serious things that we touch upon. We’ve got a song about the soldiers over in the Middle East called ‘Out Of Harm’s Way.’ The band certainly has a concern and respect for what they’re doing”.
In an interesting twist, GENERATIONS will be the first Journey album in which all the band members get a shot at being the frontman. “Everyone is singing at least one, if not two songs on the new album”, says Valory, “we’ve been doing that on the past few tours and the audiences love it. We’re spreading the talent around. I like to think of it as a blossoming of new singers who’ve just been playing their instruments before”.
Italian label Frontiers Records has planned the European release to happen at the very end of August with King Records caring for a timely release in Japan.
Frontiers Records President Serafino Perugino commented: “The label I have founded 9 years ago was born and was inspired by the music of Journey. It is not by a chance that the name ‘Frontiers’ reflects one of the most successful albums of the band. This amazing new venture makes myself and the whole team at Frontiers Records proud. I would like to take this opportunity to thank John and Abe Baruck and Tom Consolo at Azoff Management, mr. Jonathan Osder, mr. Tim Jorstad and the band for this incredible working experience together and the label manager Mario de Riso for the invaluable efforts he has put in his work during the past years!”
More details shall be unleashed soon with fabulous surprises for the fans !